Townley shocks world with truck win at Vegas

John Wes Townley had heard the critics. He didn’t lead laps very often, if at all, and fans gave him the derisive nickname “John Wrecks Weekly” for his alleged propensity for crashing at strange times.
In his fourth full-time year and his 87th career start overall in the Camping World Truck Series,

Townley was finally able to silence the negative vibes for good by winning the Rhino Linings 350 on Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
When two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton was forced to pit for fuel with six laps to go in the 146-lap race, Townley made his fuel last just long enough as he beat runner-up Timothy Peters by 3.842 seconds. It was the 25-year-old Georgia native’s first career victory in the series and only his fourth top-5 finish.
“When I saw Crafton run out of fuel, I remember thinking this was my race to lose,” said Townley, who led the most laps (23) in any race of his career. “I was really, really trying to be conservative, and I don’t think I would have been able to be conservative if it hadn’t been for my spotter (Terry Cook). It was the hardest five laps of my life.”
Crafton, who had three runner-up and two third-place finishes among his previous seven trips to Las Vegas, took the lead at lap 101, but his fuel window fell short as he finished eighth. It was the beginning of a chaotic sequence in a fuel-mileage fight to the finish as points leader Erik Jones and Canadian Cameron Hayley (10th) also saw their fuel tanks run dry in the closing laps.
Jones finished behind Crafton in ninth and saw his lead shrink to four points with five races remaining in the 2015 season. Tyler Reddick, who won the season-opening race at Daytona and followed up with one at Dover in May, finished seventh and is 16 points behind the leaders.
In addition to his first win, Townley also had the best qualifying effort of his career at Las Vegas, joining Crafton on the outside of the front row with a speed of 175.758 mph around the 1.5-mile oval. Crew chief Mike Shelton said the fuel was good to the end for Townley as long as the race didn’t extend beyond the scheduled distance.
“We were a half-lap to the good on fuel,” Shelton said. “We were hearing the 88 (Crafton) and 13 (Hayley) were talking about pitting, and I didn’t know if they were serious or not. We kept the pressure on the 88, and once we heard he was pitting, we backed it down as a precautionary measure.”
Once Townley took the checkered flag, he was able to do a victory burnout near the fence at the start-finish line. It was an appropriate moment that gave him a sense of relief in addition to the elation.
“Looking back, there were a lot of hardships I had to overcome, hurdles I had to jump over,” Townley said. “It was building myself back up, and it was really tough at times. I’m so glad I stuck with it because it’s definitely been worth it.”
Townley said he’ll be running the XFINITY Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 10 for Athenian Motorsports before returning to his 05 Zaxby’s Chevrolet truck at Talladega on Oct. 24.
After Peters, his Red Horse Racing teammate Ben Kennedy finished third. John Hunter Nemechek and Brandon Jones completed the top five.
The race had only three cautions for 19 laps, and the final 94 laps were run under green. … Austin Theriault suffered a compression fracture in his lower back after hitting the wall head-on in Turn 4 in a lap 15 wreck involving teammate Tyler Reddick. Theriault had to be airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas for observation.

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On the Cup side of the ledger, you just had a feeling something was going to give Sunday at Dover. With the first eliminations on the line at the AAA 400, Kevin Harvick was one of the four who knew a win would be a holy grail moment to preserve his chances of repeating as Sprint Cup champion.

For the third straight elimination round, Harvick got it done. After a dominating performance where he led 355 of the 400 laps, Harvick did exactly what he needed to do.

Just win, baby. It certainly kept hope alive and gave sponsor Outback Steakhouse another Monday of giving away free Bloomin' Onion appetizers with a meal purchase.

Last year at Phoenix, Harvick needed a win to advance. Done. 

At Homestead, he needed a win to win the title. Mission accomplished.

After going 0-for-29 in his previous trips to the Monster Mile, Harvick basically beat Miles at his own game and got to put him in his trophy case as a result.

Let's give credit where it's due, though. Harvick was runner-up to Jimmie Johnson at the May race, so the timing of this win couldn't have been more perfect.

While Harvick's win got him to the next round, it provided an added impact to those on the Chase bubble. Since Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended up tied for the last transfer spot to the Contender round, the tie had to be settled.

The first tiebreaker is wins, and Earnhardt Jr. has two to none for McMurray. Because Harvick won, McMurray is eliminated.

The same thing would have happened if any of the other drivers who were outside the bubble -- Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer or Kyle Busch -- had won Sunday.

Busch managed to advance on points with his runner-up finish to Harvick, but just barely. The margin was exactly one point better than Dale Jr., who finished behind Busch in third. The one point came from Busch having led 19 laps at Dover.

But the clear shocker of the eliminations came as Jimmie Johnson finished 41st in his 500th career start. The reason wasn't so much for an accident on the track as it was for a simple parts failure.

When a rear axle seal broke early in the AAA 400, Johnson's chances for a title went away with it. By the time his crew completed the necessary repairs, Johnson was 37 laps down and couldn't recover.

Such are the highs and lows of NASCAR's playoff system. Even when you think everything's in working order, you always have to stay on guard against anything that could go wrong.

When championship dreams are at stake, one misstep could easily lead to major disappointment. One bold leap forward toward the front of the pack could lead to championship immortality.

Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @Tomzsports.

NEXT WEEK'S RACES

Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Concord, N.C.

-SPRINT CUP: Bank of America 500, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, NBC. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN affiliate.

Race distance: 501 miles, 334 laps.

2014 champion: Kevin Harvick

-XFINITY SERIES: Drive for the Cure 300 presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Friday, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN affiliate.

Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.

2014 champion: Brad Keselowski.

-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Off until Oct. 24 for the Fred's 250 presented by Coca-Cola at Talladega Superspeedway.

Digging dirt, kissing bricks and crunching numbers

It's only Wednesday, but another race week is upon us. For the third year in a row, the Camping World Truck Series heads to Tony Stewart's race track in the tiny town of Rossburg, Ohio to sling some dirt in the 1-800CarCash MudSummer Classic tonight at Eldora Speedway.
Before we go further, I got curious and wanted to find out exactly where in the world Eldora Speedway is located. As you look at the map provided here, you'll see it's pretty centrally located. Fans still have to drive to get there, but it's not necessarily a budget buster for those who live in Indianapolis, Columbus, or even Toledo and Cincinnati.
For those who want to see the race on TV, it begins at 9 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. where I live in Utah, and 6 p.m., Pacific (pre-race show hits the air 30 minutes earlier). Fox Sports 1 has the broadcast along with a story on how the whole evening will go. If you're thinking the show will be long, fear not. The track is only a half-mile around, but be prepared to witness a lot of heat racing to set the field.
Prediction: If everything's not wrapped up by midnight, it's a built-in excuse to call in sick to work Thursday. Just keep the ticket stub and/or parking pass in hiding.
Recent history at Eldora has shown that a good time and great racing are in store. Austin Dillon won the inaugural race before a packed house two years ago, and Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. is the defending champ. Last year's race went the full 150 laps, but the 2013 event needed three overtime laps to settle things.
Wallace's win was by a full five seconds over Ron Hornaday, but had the added element of seven caution flags that slowed the winning speed to 50.195 mph. Dillon was faster by 17 mph and 21 minutes of real time.
The weather forecast calls for no rain with comfortable temperatures in the low 60s by race's end. As for me, I'll be making sure to give it a look to see if Tyler Reddick or Erik Jones can close the gap on series leader Matt Crafton, who's only looking for his third straight championship.
Then we head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the XFINITY and Sprint Cup cars will race for the Lilly Diabetes 250 on Saturday and the Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday afternoon.
Storylines should be plentiful. Jeff Gordon is looking for his sixth and final Brickyard win. Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are in the final year of their contracts at Hendrick Motorsports. And Kyle Busch is still on the march toward the Chase, needing to gain just 57 points over the final seven races to make the cutoff.
On the Gordon front, he's in reasonably decent shape despite going winless on the year. As they stand heading to Indy, the legend who claims Indiana as one of his home states ranks second out of the five non-winners who would make the Chase.
We're counting Kyle Busch among the Chasers because it's not a question of if he makes it, but when. And my feeling is it'll be well before they get to Richmond.
So sorry, Aric Almirola. You may have the final Chase spot right now, but the need for a win is urgent at this point.
Gordon is only a point behind Jamie McMurray, but 45 ahead of Paul Menard, the one who would be on the bubble if Kyle Busch barges his way into the top 30.
Prediction: Busch will be safely in the top 30 by the time they finish at Bristol on Aug. 22. That's how good he is right now.
As for Jimmie Johnson, he's going to retire as a Hendrick driver. No question, 48 fans. Please step away from the ledge. The guy has six championships, after all, and leads everyone with four wins this season.
Not so sure about Knaus, though. He's been with Johnson since Day 1, and the results are spectacular, with 74 career wins in 490 starts. That's one every 6.6 times they hit the race track.
Gordon didn't have Ray Evernham on the pit box when he won his fourth title in 2001 (Robbie Loomis was there). Wins usually do the talking in racing -- better attraction for sponsors that way -- but if money comes along that leads to a better opportunity, those in the know are the only ones who know what's best.
And it's best for the speculation to stay quiet for a while. It's healthier that way.
Tom Zulewski has covered motor sports in many forms through an 18-year career in journalism. Please read and share this post and follow him on Twitter @Tomzsports.